By Zanele Makola
Waseem Carrim attended the University of Pretoria and graduated with a B.Com Honours degree in Accounting Sciences in 2009. He started his career at the same university as an academic article trainee, lecturing in Accounting. He completed his article traineeship at KPMG and became a member of the South African Institute of Chartered Accountants (SAICA) in 2013. Carrim also holds a Master’s degree in Taxation from the University of Pretoria.
After completing his articles, he joined KPMG’s Professional Practice department as a public sector accounting and assurance specialist. He supervised a portfolio of audit clients in the public sector, including the National Youth Development Agency (NYDA). He managed the turnaround of the finance and supply chain management divisions, resulting in two clean audits and a significant reduction in irregular, fruitless, and wasteful expenditure.
In 2016, SAICA listed Carrim as one of the Top 30 under-35 Chartered Accountants. He was appointed CFO of the NYDA in 2014 and was promoted to CEO of the organisation in 2017.
The NYDA is a South African agency established to address challenges faced by the country’s youth. It was created as a single, unitary entity to manage youth development issues at national, provincial, and local government levels. Given South Africa’s youthful population, many socio-economic challenges—such as poverty, inequality, unemployment, and poor health—disproportionately affect young people.
Under Carrim’s leadership, the NYDA received three consecutive clean audits from the Auditor-General. The agency’s commitment to good governance was further demonstrated in the 2019/2020 financial year when it obtained its sixth consecutive clean audit. Additionally, the agency met 23 of its 24 targets for the fiscal year, achieving a 96% performance rate.
“Among our key highlights, we are proud to have provided over 1,100 youth-owned enterprises in the township and rural economy with grant funding to start their businesses through the NYDA Grant Programme. These enterprises have gone on to create and sustain more than 5,000 jobs,” Carrim stated in an interview.
As the acting CEO of NSFAS, Carrim faces several critical challenges that have affected the scheme’s effectiveness in recent years, including funding constraints, corruption and fraud, administrative inefficiencies, and student accommodation issues. Given his track record and commitment to youth development, improvements may be expected under his leadership.
